“Being Christ to Our Community: Jesus Lives in Red Bank”
Matthew 25:31-46
Because Vance is an African American living in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood, he stands out.
But what really sets Vance apart is that he is a servant-hearted father who cares not only for his own kids, but also for the many other kids who play in the streets by his building.
One night at 9 p.m., there was a knock at Vance's door.
The 16-year-old boy who lives a few doors down needed help tying his tie.
He had a big presentation at school the next day, and he had no father to help him get ready.
After Vance had finished tying the tie, the boy sheepishly asked, "Do you have a pair of black dress shoes I could borrow?"
Immediately, the Spirit brought to Vance's mind the $60 pair of shoes in his closet that he hadn't even taken out of the box yet.
He was certain God was telling him to give the boy those shoes.
Vance cringed inside.
He told the boy to wait at the door as he headed into the apartment to look for any pair of shoes but the expensive pair.
Before he went to the closet, though, he told his wife what he sensed the Spirit was saying to him.
She agreed that it sounded like God had given him a great idea.
So, Vance got out his new shoes and brought them to the boy.
His last hope was that they wouldn't fit.
After all, how many 16-year-olds have size-12 feet?
They fit perfectly.
Just a few weeks after Vance gave away his new shoes, he and his wife sensed God telling them to start a Bible study for the kids in their building.
After much prayer, they decided to invite the kids to their apartment for a Sunday evening study.
They ordered four Bibles in case any kids came.
That Sunday, seven kids showed up at Vance's apartment—they were led by the 16-year-old owner of a new pair of shoes.
The following week they ordered more Bibles, and 14 kids showed up!
Who would have thought the kingdom of God would come to the kids of that apartment complex just because one man chose to give away a new pair of shoes?
In our Gospel Lesson from Matthew Chapter 25 Jesus tells us that when He returns “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate [us] one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
The sheep are gathered on the right side of Christ—the side of approval and honor, and the goats on the left side—for condemnation.
And the criteria for judgement may be astonishing for some of us.
Jesus doesn’t ask anyone about their creeds or their standing in the community.
He doesn’t ask them what denomination they are.
But instead: “What have you done for the poor family down the street?
Ever make any visits to the local jail?”
The hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, the physically afflicted, the oppressed, the poor…
…what have we done or not done for them?
The clear message is that God so intimately identifies with human beings that to care for another person is to care for Him.
To ignore the plight of another is to ignore Jesus Himself.
I don’t know about you, but I sure am thankful that Jesus cares so deeply about those of us who are hurting.
Throughout the Gospels Jesus is continually healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, touching the lepers, feeding the hungry, showing love to the marginalized—the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the demon possessed, even persons called Samaritans and Gentiles—people of different ethnicities and religions.
On Sunday, October 7, we began this sermon series by discussing Jesus’ Mission Statement as He states it in Luke Chapter 4:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,” Jesus says, “because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
We talked about how we talked about how Jesus’ Mission Statement is to be our Mission Statement as well.
How are we doing with this?
Last month we started a new ministry which involves “getting out of our comfort zones” by going out and knocking on the doors of the homes which surround this church building in order to get to know the people who live in our community.
We took sweet breads, cookies and brownies that a number of YOU baked as gifts.
We were received well.
It was an exciting experience.
We met a number of people from all walks of life.
Some are poor.
Some are lonely.
Some are sad and depressed.
Some live within the prison walls of addiction.
Others feel as if God couldn’t possibly love them.
We are going back to those same houses and those same people Saturday, November 3.
I hope you can join us.
We are asking the people in our community what we can do to help them.
We are seeking to get to know the folks around us.
We want to be Christ to our Community.
Christianity is about relationships.
A relationship with God and a relationship with those around us.
There is so much need right here in Red Bank.
There are so many children who go to bed hungry.
There are so many people who are addicted to drugs.
There are so many people who are living on the margins, in fear, in darkness and despair—without hope.
And it is God’s yearning that we, His children, will live in love for one another.
With a parent and child, the bond can be so closely bound that the misfortune of one becomes the misfortune of the other, but the bond between Jesus Christ and humankind is even closer than this.
Our gladness or sadness not only affects Jesus: it is actually part of Him.
He is troubled by our sorrows, not from a distance, but in His very heart.
Therefore, when we help one another, we are, in all reality, helping Jesus, and Jesus comes to know us and we come to know Him through this helping.
I truly believe that the key to living as part of the Kingdom of God involves learning to see other people as if he or she was Christ Himself.
I mean, how can followers of Jesus ignore the prisoner, the hungry, the thirsty, or the naked if we see in these people the very image of God Himself?
It’s no mistake that God came into this world as the child of a homeless couple spending the night in a barn.
He was born as a human baby placed in a feeding trough for animals.
He spent His life hanging out with and identifying with the misfits of the world.
He taught His followers that the greatest in the Kingdom of God are those who humble themselves.
The night before His death, He took a towel and washed the feet of His disciples.
This was the job of a slave.
Then He said to them: “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
God-Made-Flesh lived on this earth as a lowly Servant and died the death of a criminal.
“As it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”
Is it any wonder that when we serve “the least of these” we are—quite literally—serving Jesus Christ Himself???
Remember in Matthew Chapter 7 when Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my father who is in heaven”?
Well, we find the will of the Father here in Matthew Chapter 25:31-46.
God wants to save our souls and redeem us and give us the gift of life—true, deep, authentic human life.
God wants to save us by touching our hearts with love.
God wants to save us by persuading us to care and see other human beings who need us.
God wants to save us from obsessing about ourselves, our own needs, by persuading us to forget about ourselves and worry, instead, about others.
That is God’s favorite project: to teach me and you the fundamental lesson, the secret, the truth—that to love is to live.
And so, today is Consecration Sunday.
It is the day that we fill-out the pledge cards found in our bulletins—making a covenant between us and God as to what of our financial resources we will give to the work of The Kingdom of God for the sake of this Community in the Coming Year.
Of course, in the Old Testament, the biblical mandate for giving is ten percent of what we earn.
In the New Testament, ten percent becomes the floor of our giving rather than the ceiling—as we are called to give God our WHOLE SELVES.
And in doing so, we find life in all its abundance, joy and freedom.
YOU—this Church are incredibly important to this community.
You have one of the most effective ministries for middle school children I have ever seen.
We will never know how many lives have been changed, how many souls have been saved through the Safe House Ministry.
This year, as we continue to reach out to our Community—become more and more involved in the lives of those living closest to us—the ministries of this congregation will become more and more vital and needed.
How many souls will be saved through the ministries of this church in the coming year and years?
What we give to the church may very well help decide that.
Claudia Burney wrote the following:
“Jesus lives next door.
He’s an eight-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother.
Jesus only gets breakfast and lunch at school, when He makes it.
His mother is a crack addict.
Nobody knows where His daddy is.
Jesus is two houses down and has six children, with another on the way.
How does He expect to feed all those babies on that salary?
The Lord is a crazy man—paranoid schizophrenic.
If he doesn’t take His medication, He walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everybody He passes.
He’s homeless.
He digs out of the trash cans for food.
I’m starting to see the Son of Man everywhere I go.
Somebody ought to do something about Him.
Somebody.”
We are somebody.
We are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, make friends with the stranger, clothe the naked, look after the sick, and visit those who are in prison.
In doing this, we will look straight into the eyes of Christ.
And in knowing this we can never look at another person the same way again.
We can also never look at our finances the same way again.
And for that, I am very, very thankful; how about you?
Praise God.
Amen.
